L. Milford Approves Budget That Will Lower Tax Bills

Supervisors voted 3-0 for the $587,635 budget and reduced the tax rate to comply with a comprehensive reassessment that more than quadrupled the value of taxable property in the township this year.

"The tax bills will probably be a little lower than they were in 1990," board President Ted Benson said.

Spending next year will increase $3,995 from $583,640 last year.

Under the budget, the tax rate will be 2 mills -- or $2 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. The 1990 tax rate was 8 mills -- or $8 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

A property's assessed value is one-half of its market value.

Each mill of tax will generate $84,275 next year.

The new tax rate will bring in less revenue from property taxes than this year's. The total amount next year would drop $1,500 -- to $168,550.

Benson has attributed the drop in real estate tax revenue to the millage adjustments supervisors made in response to the reassessment. Lehigh County Department of Assessment reassessed all taxable land in the county for the first time since 1974.

In the township, the assessed value of all the taxable property jumped to $83.3 million --about 4.6 times the 1990 assessed value of slightly more than $18 million.

Most of the township's revenue will come from earned income tax. The $200,000 listed in next year's budget is down $20,500 from this year's budget.

The township expects to take in nearly double the money budgeted this year from fines and licenses. Next year's budget shows the township expects $11,850 from fees and licenses, compared to $6,460 in this year's budget.

Road work will take up the bulk of the township's spending. The budget includes $187,165 for road work -- a little more than $3,000 more than the amount budgeted this year.